Dark Shadow
by librastar
Summary: Team Natsu and Konoha's Team Seven team up in a desperate race against time to battle against a new dark guild that is threatening the land of Fiore while investigating the mysterious disappearances of Fairy Tail's Dragon Slayers. Sometimes when battling the unknown, you have to work together with those you rather remain unknown...
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: As always, the anime and manga worlds of Naruto and Fairy Tail are the sole copyright of Masashi Kishimoto and Hiro Mashima respectively. All descriptions, names, places and references are the copyright of the owners, and everything else is simply a figment and work of my imagination.

**A/N**: This is an idea that has been brewing in my head and laptop for almost four months now, but I've only just finished my uni finals for this semester and have just gotten the chance to properly organize my thoughts and ideas into some semblance of a story.

Because it is a crossover, I will be taking certain plot liberties so that certain characters (hint hint Sasuke!) will be able to make an appearance in this fic. However, I will attempt to be making everything else as close to canon as possible. This story probably takes place roughly 3-5 years into the future, making the Naruto characters somewhere around 19-21 with our Fairy Tail counterparts a year or two older.

I have not entirely decided on the romantic aspect of the story as I would really like the action/adventure side of things to take precedence for once, but rest assured there will be at least a teensy sprinkling of fluff somewhere down the line. I'm currently toying with Gray x Sakura x Sasuke or Gray x Sakura x Natsu…any thoughts on this?

Lastly, this is the most ambitious work I have attempted to date and will be the first multi-chapter story I've attempted in 7 years, so please be gentle!

**Chapter 1: Mysterious Foes**

"Fire Dragon Slayer Magic: Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"

Doubled over and panting heavily, Natsu watched with relief as a burst of orange flames hurled towards his opponent at point-blank range. The attack was too fast for him to dodge; leaving him rooted to the ground with nowhere to run. Although his current adrenaline-fuelled state left him feeling nothing but the wildly frantic beating of his heart, the dragon slayer still felt the tightness beginning to set in his muscles now that he was stationary for more than a few seconds. His opponent's movements had been so fast; Natsu had found himself chasing shadows for most of their battle but finally, he'd managed to get a look in with that last attack scoring a direct hit.

But just as the fierce yellow blaze began to engulf him, his opponent suddenly disappeared with an audible 'pop' sound.

"What the…?"

The next thing he knew, a cold metal point was pressed against his throat.

"Any sudden movements, and it's over for you."

Natsu gasped in pain as he felt the blade slide against his throat; the sharp pang confirming that his opponent had indeed drawn first blood.

"Ack…"

"Natsu!"

"Happy!" From the corner of his eye, he could make out the Exceed wriggling violently next to a pile of dirt, his body tightly bound by some blue-glowing wires.

The blade pressed deeper as he struggled helplessly against the chokehold on his throat.

"Ice-Make: Sword!"

Instant relief flooded his body as his opponent dropped the knife and rolled sideways; narrowly dodging the ferocious slashes directed at him.

"You…!" The enemy mage roared menacingly at the advancing Gray. Drawing a longer blade from a sheath around his back, he whipped it over his head in a graceful semi-circle and brought it crashing down with ferocious speed.

A metallic ring resounded as the two swords connected, several sparks jumping off both blades from the enormous friction being generated. Both men were gripping their respective sword handles tightly; unyielding. Expert swordsmanship was a battle of will as much as a battle of strength and skill.

"Natsu! Are you alright?" Soft hands pressed gently against his throat, stemming the blood trickling from the shallow wound. He opened his eyes slowly, and found himself staring into a pair of big, brown eyes, framed by long, smooth lashes. Usually they were sparkling with laughter and merriment, but now they were wide open with fear.

He got up slowly, wincing a little. A dull ache was permeating every muscle in his body, and his forehead felt clammy with sweat. A sharp pain lanced through his throat, and he automatically brought up a hand to touch the still-weeping wound. It hurt, but Natsu had experienced a lot worse than this.

"I'm fine Lucy!" his back groaned in protest even as he uttered those words, but he stubbornly willed the pain away. She looked disbelievingly at him, shaking her head slightly. "Natsu, just…"

"I just need to get up and give this guy what he deserves!" He roared. "Come on!"

Running over to where Gray and his opponent were trading blows, Natsu leaped into the air, inhaling deeply. "Fire Dragon's Roar!"

This time, there was no mistake. The roseate-haired dragon slayer grinned in triumph as his opponent frantically tried to parry a blow from Gray but was soon awash in the scorching blaze of the giant fireball.

"Hah! Look who's the one that's finished!" he taunted as his opponent spluttered from the smoke, glaring balefully at both mages. His scorched robes were in tatters, a large rip down the right side revealing a purple stamp in the shape of a spiral on his right bicep.

"You may have won this round, but consider this nothing but a warm-up. Now we know how much power you have, rest assured we won't be making the same mistake twice," he snarled.

Natsu cracked his knuckles. "We'll see about that! Time to end this- Fire Dragon…"

But before he could finish his attack, a large puff of smoke obscured his vision.

When it had cleared, the spot on the ground where the enemy had been standing on just moments before was empty.

He was gone.

Vanished.

Just like that.

And in his place, lay an innocuous looking tree stump.

"Huh?" Natsu blinked stupidly. "Where did THAT come from?"

"He's gone. Disappeared into thin air," Gray stated grimly.

Natsu groaned. "Man, and we were so close to finishing him off too. I wonder what kind of magic that is."

"I've never seen anything like it before, and I like to think I've seen most of what there already is to see." The boys turned around eagerly at the sound of the new voice.

"Erza!" Natsu exclaimed.

The scarlet-haired Titania was breathing almost as heavily as Natsu was, a rare occurrence given that as Fairy Tail's strongest female mage, Erza Scarlet rarely found opponents that made her break more than a sweat. She was clad in full battle regalia, although her Heaven's Wheel Armour seemed a little worse for wear, given the numerous scratches and dents adorning the otherwise smooth grey metal plates along her waist. A small scratch was oozing tiny droplets of blood down her left cheek, but otherwise she looked unharmed.

"You didn't manage to capture the other one too I presume?" Gray asked.

The redhead shook her head. "He got away the same way yours did. I had him pinned down by at least fifty swords and he still managed to escape." She looked Natsu up and down. "He managed to nick your throat?"

The dragon slayer grimaced. "I thought I had him with my Fire Dragon Flame attack…I actually saw him covered in the flames but the next thing I know, he's pressing a knife to my throat!"

"Every time I thought I'd landed a hit on him, the guy would pop up from somewhere else and start attacking," Gray added. "It's almost as if he was immune to our attacks, or unbelievably fast at dodging them."

"Hmm." Erza pursed her lips, features furrowing into a deep frown.

"You think there were more than two of them?" Lucy walked up to them, closely followed by Plue and Happy, who had obviously been freed by the blonde.

"Happy!" Natsu rushed over to where the Blue Exceed was happily hovering above Lucy's head. He reached out as if to wrap both arms around him, before hastily withdrawing them. "Uh, glad to see you're okay there!"

Lucy chuckled at Natsu's failed attempt at disguising his obvious relief at the Exceed's safety, before turning back to Erza. "So?"

The other girl shrugged. "I'm quite sure I was only fighting the one person."

"Me too. It just beats me how he could be so fast!" Gray folded his arms across his bare chest. "And when Natsu finally scores a hit, he disappears into thin air, leaving behind this stupid," he aimed a kick at the wooden stump, "…thing. Just great."

"The weapons they were using were really strange as well." Erza opened her left palm, revealing two metal objects, each with 4 sharpened points in the shape of a star. "Natsu's guy dropped this, presumably while he was trying to carve his throat open." In her right hand, she was clutching what looked to be some sort of dagger made of dulled bronze metal.

Gray's eyes widened. "Those look like…"

"Shuriken." Erza nodded. "Also known as "throwing stars", they were metal projectiles used in olden times. Shuriken were often thrown at opponents as a distraction but with enough skill and precision, they could be quite deadly as well. And this," she held out the small dagger, "…is a kunai."

"I've read about them!" Lucy exclaimed. "But like Erza said, they were mainly used in olden times before long-range weaponry such as guns and cannons were developed. Who would want to use shuriken or kunai now, and where would they even be able to get such things?"

All four mages were silent.

Happy broke the silence by clapping his hands loudly. "We can't learn anything more from here, so why don't we go back home to Master Makarov and the guild?"

Erza nodded. "Master needs to know about these two mages as soon as possible. We should hurry and report back."

As they slowly picked their way through the trees, away from the clearing where they had just battled the two mages, Gray turned to Erza. "That guy that Natsu was fighting…he had a purple spiral stamp on his right arm. You think they were from a dark guild?"

A shadow passed over the S-class mage's face. "I'm not sure, but we'll make sure we're ready for them the next time we meet."

* * *

"Ahoo! Ahoo!"

_It's just a crow. Just another one of Master's annoying birdbrains..._

Even so, the young man bunched up the hem of his dark robe and quickened his pace, the echoes of his footfalls drowned out by the gloomy cries of the crows residing in the crevice just under the tower roof. The gentle _plink _of last night's rainwater dripping sounded near his left as he hurried down the winding staircase, pooling in small puddles near his feet and causing him to wet his sandals every time he landed in one. _Couldn't Master have simply gotten a better castle with fewer holes in the roof…?_

Taka was waiting for him at the bottom of the staircase. "What took you so long?" he hissed, wiping a handful of sweat off his brow, which gleamed with moisture even in the semi-darkened twilight of the old hallway. "You know Master hates being made to wait."

The young man merely sniffed in response. "I had to change out of my robes, that flame brained idiot completely fried them with that fireball of his!"

"Only because you were foolish enough to let him lay a hand on you," Taka retorted contemptuously, pushing open the ornate wooden door in front of them. "Master isn't going to be too pleased about that!"

"Enter."

Even though he had been living here for close to a year, Hiro never failed to be amazed by the maleficent beauty that the Hall of Solitude inspired in everyone that set foot in it. Carved stone gargoyle heads on plinths lined both sides of the enormous room, all the way to the throne-like seat in the middle. The room was always in a state of perpetual darkness, but he could have sworn that it only accentuated the soft, ethereal glow emitted by the white marble of the throne, rendering an almost ghostly feel about it. Faint etchings of trigrams and yin-yang symbols could still be seen on the cracked stone floor, but anything meaningful had long since faded with age. A single flame burned from the stone torch behind the throne. Hiro had always thought it was such a cliché, that people of darkness liked to reside in darkness but he suppose it had its merits. All that time spent hiding away in this darkened room had undoubtedly given Master's skin that unnatural pallour, which coupled with his dark eyes often had others mistaking him as a blood-sucking creature of the night. _It's all those vampire story books being sold around here_ he scoffed. Only simpletons with too much time on their hands would believe in the existence of such mythical creatures; back where he came from the only thing that anyone cared about was how to make it to tomorrow while still being alive. They cared about the hardship of reality; there was no time for fantasy.

_But sometimes what seems like a fantasy is in actuality someone else's reality _he mused. _A year ago, if someone had mentioned words like 'magic' and 'dragons', he would have said they had been drinking one too many shots of sake… _

"Hiro. Taka."

Both men dropped to their knees, bowing their heads in what Hiro privately considered an insincere show of respect. _Just because Master had been the one to recruit them hadn't meant that he was entitled to lord it over them! Forcing them to call him Master had been bad enough…_

"The dragon-slayer- did you manage to capture him?"

He could hear Taka hesitating a little next to him.

"No." He spoke up, lifting his head to meet Master's eyes.

A chilling silence followed.

"As expected."

Taka shifted a little, but even without saying anything Hiro could sense the surprise emanating from his partner. He let out the breath he hadn't realized he had been involuntarily holding.

"You expected us to fail, Master?"

Hiro watched as his master's lip curled in an icy sneer. "Obviously. I wouldn't have ordered both of you to go otherwise!"

"But why, Master? We're your most devoted…" It seemed that Taka could not hold his silence any longer.

"Devotion, alas is not a measure of true power. No, to put into place the actual parts of my plan; I'm going to need _real_ men." The Master stroked his chin thoughtfully, ignoring Taka's obvious looks of annoyance. "What did you discover from your fight with him?"

A sulky Taka had never been inclined to talk, so Hiro loftily replied, "The usual low-level techniques are effective even against someone like him, so we really shouldn't need to send out anyone else to capture him, _Master_," putting extra stress on the last word. "I was just about to slit his throat, until reinforcements arrived that forced us to retreat. But if we manage to isolate him, no amount of raw power should be any match for us. He and his team were completely baffled by our techniques."

"You shouldn't underestimate a dragon slayer, Hiro," Master murmured. "It could only take but a split second for them to surprise you."

Beckoning to the side of the room, Hiro was startled to see a shadowy figure step out from behind one of the gargoyle heads. "Now, if you and Taka could get out of the way, I have a little something to discuss with…"

* * *

"…used Multiple Sword Requipping but he managed to counter every attack using these." Erza held out the two shuriken they had brought back, placing them onto the wooden desk. "He must have had hundreds of them, since he managed to deflect every single sword. I finally managed to catch him from behind, but he disappeared using a smoke screen. I also brought this back; Natsu's opponent was planning to use this to slit his throat." She placed the kunai next to the shuriken.

Master Makarov turned the two shuriken over and over in his hands, seemingly lost in thought.

Minutes passed, and Natsu predictably became fidgety. "Hey Gramps you're not going to keep us in all day are you...?"

The little white-haired guild master cleared his throat, cutting over Natsu. "Did these two "mages" do anything else unusual during the fight? Besides seemingly disappearing everytime your attack connected and reappearing later with no apparent damage?" He looked at Erza pointedly.

The requip mage was quiet for a while more, before finally venturing, "I didn't think much of it at the time, but now I remember before he launched an attack, he always made some odd hand gestures and shouted out the words to some spell."

Master Makarov nodded, and his expression hardened somewhat. He turned to the other three mages. "Anything else?"

"There was his member stamp…" Gray spoke up.

The guild master's eyebrows rose. "Oh? What about it?"

"We think they're from some new dark guild, since we didn't recognize the stamp. It was a purple spiral on his right arm."

"Could they be part of the Balam alliance?" Lucy asked quietly.

Natsu pouted. "I thought we'd already destroyed those guys for good!"

"There's still Grimoire Heart," Lucy pointed out.

"But their member stamp wasn't a Grimoire Heart one, and I'm pretty sure I've never seen anything like it before," Gray argued.

"That's why we think it could be that a new dark guild has surfaced, Master," Erza interrupted, turning everyone's attention back to the wizened guild master. "If those two were any indication of the powers that this new guild possess, who knows how powerful they might be, especially since they can disappear and reappear without taking any damage from our attacks! We need to track those two and find out more information about this guild before they start attacking more mages and other guilds. We can't risk Fairy Tail being destroyed again just like the last war with Phantom Lord…" Her voice trailed off as Master Makarov held up his hand.

"I don't think you'll need to worry about dark guilds, Erza," he said quietly.

Natsu made a noise of outrage. "What do you mean Gramps? Of course we need to go and kick some more dark guild ass! We'll teach them not to mess with Fairy Tai.."

"I've already said, it's not dark mages you have to be worried about!" Makarov suddenly barked, causing everyone to jump a few feet backwards at the sudden outburst.

"But Master…!"

"Those people you fought weren't mages."

The tension in the room was suddenly so thick you could have sliced it with one of Erza's swords. Natsu's jaw was slacking wide open, while both Gray and Lucy exchanged fearful glances. Only Erza seemed as unperturbed as ever, although the slight shaking of her hands as she gripped the edge of Makarov's desk betrayed her true feelings.

Finally, Lucy timidly asked the question that they had all been fearfully anticipating. "If they weren't mages, what were they then?"

Makarov sighed, placing the shuriken down and hopped off his chair. Ambling slowly to the golden-grilled windows that had been a feature of the Fairy Tail guildhall for as long as he could remember, he pushed the red velvet curtain aside, peering outside to take a look at the villagers going about their daily fare down the prettily cobbled streets that led to the main entrance of the guild. The sun was shining brightly, and it looked like just another splendid summer day in Magnolia.

"Master…?" All of them could have sworn they had never heard Erza's voice hold such uncertainty or fear in it before.

Turning around to face them, the aura in the room suddenly turned ominous; as if Master Makarov had a very important, impending doomsday announcement to make.

"Those people you fought weren't mages," he repeated slowly.

"They were ninja."

* * *

**A/N**: END OF CHAPTER 1! Wrote this chapter on the flight back from Sydney, must be that feeling of inspiration one gets from being 15000 feet above the ground. Reviews are much much appreciated, as it's been a long time since I've written anything action/adventure and multi-chapter. Seeing as its now the winter holidays, I'll definitely be pumping out the chapters as fast as I can.

Also, I watch Naruto much more frequently than FT so if there are some FT facts that I've gotten wrong here, please feel free to point them out. All you Naruto readers should be able to name the basic jutsu that were used against our FT heroes, special mention to whoever can point them out; I think there were 3. Hint: they all start with 'K' (in Japanese).

Love, librastar x


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**: Special mention to kitty132383- yes it was a Kawarimi (Substitution) jutsu. The other two (less obvious ones) were Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone) and Kage Shuriken (Shadow Shuriken) no Jutsu.

Last chapter…

Turning around to face them, the aura in the room suddenly turned ominous; as if Master Makarov had a very important, impending doomsday announcement to make.

"Those people you fought weren't mages," he repeated slowly.

"They were ninja."

* * *

**Chapter 2: Gramps, there's no such thing as ninja**

_Another blast suddenly shook the air, and for a split-second, Madarov almost hoped that he was already in the afterlife so that he didn't have to risk being blown into a million smithereens for a second time. Cursing, he prepared to launch another powerful Light Blast, his fifth of the battle already. Titan had proved to be effective in increasing his durability against the various explosives and fire attacks his opponent had been throwing at him; but he hadn't been immune to taking a partial amount of damage from them and the longer the fight dragged on, the more he began to feel the numerous telltale scratches and burns across his back and arms. The niggling little aches that were slowly, but surely beginning to take their toll on him; slowing his reflexes and making his steps just that little bit heavier. _

_Not as young as you used to be eh Madarov_, he thought a little wistfully_. Old boy wouldn't have been able to land a scratch on you fifty-years ago; maybe best to finish him off before you come out of this battle needing a wheelchair for the next fifty years._

_The tall, shrouded figure opposite him was panting heavily; but to Madarov's intense annoyance, a cruel smirk remained etched upon his lips as he purred, "Beginning to feel the heat, _jiji_?" _

_Madarov glared. Taking a deep breath, he began to invoke, "Kyojin no Gekirin!"_

_The world suddenly erupted, as a cataclysmic wave of light energy suddenly tore its way across the vicinity, blasting everything in its way: trees, earth and rocks into millions of shattered pieces. The little yellow-haired man shielded his gaze from the blinding rays; even he as the Caster of that spell more than a little feared the destructive nature of the Giant Wrath he had just cast. Peeking through his fingers, he glimpsed the fiery yellow energy bathing his being, and the destruction it was wreaking on the landscape. _

That should take care of him.

_But suddenly from underneath him, a hand reached out and jerked his ankle, dragging him upside down. He cried out in pain as his jaw was abruptly smashed against the hard, rocky surface. _

"_Katon: __Karyū Endan__!" _

_He felt the blazing heat sear through his body, as the dragon-shaped flames combusted with the dry terrain; the resulting explosion surely leaving the land barren for eternity- a scar on the otherwise lush countryside. Hastily throwing up another defensive Shield, he managed to prevent his body being charred to ashes, although by the white-hot pain and rawness along his lower back, it had probably taken quite a roasting. _

"_I'll ask you again, who are you and what do you want with them?" he shouted. Or at least he tried to shout, although it came out sounding more like a rasp. _

_The dark-haired villain merely chuckled. "I can assure you that your Draegon Dacrimae will be well-protected, and that they will serve a far nobler purpose than serving as glorified energy containers." He took another step forward, flexing his knuckles. "It's just too bad you won't live to see that happy ending!"_

_Rapidly firing off another set of complicated hand seals, his opponent shouted, "Katon: Gokkakyu…"_

_Before he could finish, another powerful blast shook the surrounding area. _

_A jolt of surprise ran through Madarov as the smoke parted to reveal three figures in front of him. The taller, larger frames of the two at the side suggested that they were male while the centre figure had the soft, curvaceous frame of a woman._

_The figure on the right splayed his hands in imitation of a kabuki pose while he lifted his feet in a similarly dramatic stance. A red line ran below each eye, and a forehead band with the kanji for 'oil' emblazoned on it sat snugly amid his spiky shock of snow-white hair. He seemed to be relatively calm, but there was no mistaking the confident, slightly cocky grin that tugged at his lips._

"_Behold, the great ninja Jibaiya* has come to intervene in this battle! With my strength, valour and bravery, I will make this a battle to savour…" _

_The only word that registered in Madarov's tired brain was_ Ninja?

_*Names changed for privacy reasons_

"Oh ho ho! Looks like someone_ is _enjoying my latest novel after all!"

Sakura quickly snapped the bright-yellow paperback shut, glaring up instead into the grinning face of one perverted toad-sage. Behind him, Naruto was shuffling somewhat apologetically, his trademark goofy grin nonetheless plastered all over his whiskered face. Shifting minutely away from the arm around her shoulders (that was moving discreetly downwards towards _certain _regions!), Sakura retorted, "We-l-l…your book is currently Number #1 on the Konoha Weekly Bestseller List."

The white-haired Sannin chuckled, and struck a familiar kabuki pose. "And for the fifteenth week running! What can I say," he winked at her, the roseate-hared medic immediately shuddering, "…I've written another masterpiece. It's been great for my reputation with the ladies, they now call me Jiraiya The Great Novelist in addition to singing praises of my prowess with my literal pen, as much as they praise my prowess with my _other_ little pen…"

"All right all right," she replied hastily, not wanting the conversation to drift towards an exaltation of what Jiraiya's supposed other _talents_ were. "I'll admit it's a step-up from _Icha Icha_."

He looked wounded. "Those were a different type of work! Comparing adventure with adult fiction would be like comparing a blonde with a brunette; each gives me pleasure, but in vastly different ways! And you utilize a different set of _skills_ with each one." A dramatic sigh. "And _Icha-Icha_ _was_ a great series, ne?"

Sakura snorted. _I suppose Jiraiya-sensei does deserve a little credit for turning a lifetime of rejections from Tsunade-shisou into a series of best-selling novels and making millions of ryo from them. Although I really can't forgive him for those novels turning Naruto and Kakashi-sensei into the two biggest hentais in town besides himself…_

"Ano sa ano sa, Ero-sennin!" Naruto broke in. "Was _"The Three Musket-Sannin"_ based on real experiences as well?"

"Don't be silly Naruto," she snapped. "Even if you've read the book, you should know there's no such thing as magic or mages!" Turning to Jiraiya, she added, "I guess one reason the book's doing so well is that people are fascinated by the world you've created. All the details on the different types of spells and magic are really convincing, and the characters are really life-like!"

"Who says there aren't things such as magic or mages?"

The sudden seriousness of his tone shocked her a little, but she replied lightly, "Oh come on Jiraiya-sensei, we know that the moulding of our physical and spiritual energy manifests itself in the form of chakra, and the only people capable of using it offensively are ninja-_ us_. So I guess your idea of magic having the same concept of chakra is rather unoriginal, and you _obviously_ plagiarized the concept of elemental ninjutsu when writing about the different forms of magic your mages can perform, but…"

"Sakura," he stopped her mid-way. She raised a slender pink eyebrow, slightly miffed at his rather rude interruption.

"I only write from actual experience – as can be seen from _Icha Icha_ and the Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi. I thought that by now, everyone should know I have the poorest imagination on Earth; the best thing I'd be able to come up with on my own would probably be some tragic love story between Gamabunta and Pakkun."

The young jonin-medic was dumbstruck for a moment, before lashing out again. "But that's impossible! Everyone knows that chakra is the only way to perform jutsu, there's no such thing as magic and…"

"Sakura," he repeated, a mixture of exasperation and annoyance creeping into his voice.

"A joke's a joke Jiraiya-sensei, I agree that your novel is good but there's no need to take it this far as to convince me that it's actually real…"

* * *

Later that night, on their way back after a late supper at Ichiraku Ramen, the orange-clad blonde turned to his mentor.

"Ero-sennin."

"Baka, how many times have I told you not to call me that! May I remind you that it reflects badly on you too!" his companion squawked indignantly. "Do you want others to know that you were trained by some lecherous, perverted old man or by the famous, fabulous and fantastically skilled Jiraiya, member of the legendary Sannin, extraordinary Gama-sennin and now, celebrated best-selling novelist…" he rambled on.

The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki grew impatient at his mentor's increasingly long-winded self-adulation, as well as the growing stream of fancy words that Jiraiya was using, most of which he had absolutely no idea what they meant. "Ero-sennin!" he whined.

Jiraiya huffed, stopping in the middle of quoting how _Icha Icha_ had supposedly spent 100 weeks on the top spot of Fire Country's Romance Bestsellers List.

"This afternoon…you weren't lying to Sakura-chan were you?" he asked somewhat worriedly.

The older man shook his head, a wry smile playing on his mouth. Seconds later, he realized what a big mistake this could potentially shape up to be.

"Naruto…" He sighed. He could already see the torrent of questions beginning to form on his godson's lips, as the cogs on his (seldom-worked) brain went into overdrive, trying to digest the possibility of there being another type of power besides chakra, of the possibility of there actually being people that could use and harness this power, this magic and of the possibility of these mages actually living, existing, somewhere out there, in another world…

"Ne…So they exist then? Mages?"

He paused for a long while, before nodding. "But don't spread it around though." As soon as he said that, he realized how stupid that sounded. Asking Naruto to keep quiet was like asking Shikamaru to stop being lazy, and Tsunade to stop gambling away the village's healthcare budget away every Friday night- Drunken Hokages and little hyperactive Jinchuurikis never changed their habits.

Naruto was already pumping his fists, a familiar look of determination on his tanned face. "YOSH! I want to know all about them!" he cheered, jumping up and down. "Are they stronger than us? Are they better fighters than us? Ero-Sennin, you have to know where can I go and find them, I'm going to challenge these mages to the battle of their lives, dattebayo! A Hokage has to be able to face any kind of enemy, I want to…"

Jiraiya shook his head. It was almost comical, watching a nineteen, no nearly twenty year old boy doing a crazy dance in a garish orange tracksuit, the shade so bright it glowed almost fluorescently in the middle of the darkened Konoha alley- the same boy that along with Uchiha Sasuke had brought about the defeat of the most powerful enemy that the ninja world had ever faced- the masked villain known as Tobi. That same hero of the Fourth Great Ninja War was now babbling away a hundred words a minute to the point of being imcomprehensible, the same as always whenever he got excited.

He guffawed. "If you like them so much, go and read about them in my book! I can't promise you that I can bring you to go and see them though, they live… rather far away and they can't be that easily found."

The Kyuubi container pouted. "But you and baa-chan and Orochimaru managed to find them."

"Ehehe…" he held his hands behind his head in slight embarrassment. "We didn't exactly go and find them, certain circumstances led us to them…you see, it was on one of our travels…"

* * *

"_You had no right interfering in my battle like that!" Madarov roared indignantly, tearing out fistfuls of bright yellow hair in frustration as he stamped wildly around them. Opochimalu sniffed disdainfully at the little man, his yellowish eyes narrowing in barely concealed contempt; either at Madarov's apparent lack of gratitude or lack of vertical challenge to him._

"_That was a ninja's battle we just saved you from," he hissed, taking a threatening step forward towards the raging Madarov. "One which someone of your kind would have absolutely no chance of winning! And we didn't mean to interfere, we were just passing by the area, sorry if we just saved your life!"_

_Madarov's screaming only got louder. "And what makes you so sure he was a ninja? Who says there are even such things as ninja? And how am I to know that the three of you aren't even lying to me?"_

"_Hey ji-chan!" Prunade retorted. "We're having a pretty hard time believing such things as magic and mages exist too! The fact of the matter is we rescued your sorry ass from being kicked by a ninja, (and a damn good one too I might add) and you could at least pretend to be grateful!" _

"_I didn't need saving you brats…!"_

"_Relax Madarov, Prunade," a grinning Jibaiya broke in as Prunade began cracking her knuckles threateningly and Madarov had begun to swell rather ominously. "At least we managed to recover whatever it was that Madarov here was after." He held out the five crystalline balls they had managed to snatch from the rogue ninja that Madarov had been battling. Prunade took one from Jibaiya's armful, gently bouncing it up and down in her palm. "It's actually kind of heavy."_

_Opochimalu was also examining one of the glowing balls, pressing one eye against its translucent surface. "They appear to contain some sort of energy."_

"_Aye," Madarov sighed, as he gently tucked the other three balls in his coat pocket. "These are what we call Dacrimae. In our world, Dacrimae can be used to store magical energy or spells. These particular type of Dacrimae," he lightly fingered the surface of one, "are Draegon Dacrimae. They are extremely rare, and very expensive."_

"_What's a draegon?" Jibaiya looked blank. _

_Madarov waved his hand impatiently. "I don't have time to sit here and explain everything to you foreign ninja brats, I've got to get back to my guild, report this incident to the Magic Council and return the Dacrimae to their storage place…"_

"_I'd say you have a lot of explaining to do on the way back then, ji-chan." _

_Madarov looked up in horror at the determined smirk on Prunade's face. _

"_If you ninja brats think I'm going to let you set foot in Magnolia, in _Fairy Tail_, you've got some nerve…!"_

_Jibaiya bent down and slapped him on the back, causing Madarov to stumble forward. "Fairy Tail eh? First mages, now fairies. I think I'm beginning to like your world Madarov! I'm already beginning to get so many new ideas for my new book…so lead the way! Hmm wonder if fairies still dress up in short little skintight..."_

"You actually brought them back to the guild, Master?" Lucy couldn't disguise the look of surprise on her face.

Makarov snorted, a faint look of amusement crossing his expression. "Aye, and a right lot of trouble I had getting them to leave! That Jiraiya kept flirting with every woman in the guild, even had the gall to hit on Polyursica!" He chuckled. "Not that he survived that encounter unharmed."

Gray whistled slightly. "So they do exist after all, ninja."

Natsu grumbled. "Okay ji-chan, so you're telling us now that ninja exist. Great, but what are going to do about it? It's not as if your ninja friends are here to tell us what we can do to beat those guys."

The elderly guild master's eyes crinkled in another smile. "Be patient brat! You'll see soon enough." He reached under the desk, and drew out a red velvet pouch bag, the dark maroon slightly faded and dusty with age. Gently undoing the top, he put in his right hand and slowly pulled out a tightly bound cylinder.

"Master, that's a scroll."

"But not just any scroll, Lucy…"

"_Here." Prunade held out her arms, a small red bag dangling from her right wrist. _

"_What's this?" Madarov grumbled as he peered inside curiously. "Trying to kill me before you leave eh? Some gratitude you brats are showing. "_

_Ignoring the jibe, the blonde replied, "Inside that bag is a scroll on which I've placed a communication jutsu on, it will allow you to summon us anytime in the future if you ever need us."_

_The guildmaster coughed. "I appreciate the kind offer, but…"_

"_We're serious, Madarov." Opochimalu glanced at Prunade, who nodded back. "We may have managed to retrieve your Dacrimae, but we didn't manage to catch the rogue ninja."_

"_We'll report and keep an eye out for him when we get back to our village, but in the meantime he may try to make another attempt at stealing the Dacrimae, or he may even attack your guild," Jibaiya agreed. "It's a way for us to keep in touch with anything that might go wrong here." His voice suddenly took on a firmer quality. "Ninja, mage…we're all comrades here. We both want peace for our worlds, and it's only going to happen if we agree to work together. If you ever need our help, don't hesitate to let us know. That's our ninja way."_

_Ninja way. _

Makarov snorted. "I'd almost forgotten about it. Who knew those brats were right, and this thing would actually come in handy. Now I wonder how this thing works…" he eyed the scroll critically, running his fingers along the tightly rolled cloth. "I suppose I should open it..."

"Oi ji-chan!" Everyone turned to look at the roseate haired Dragon Slayer, a familiar glint dancing in his dark eyes. "Does this mean we're going to get to kick some ninja-ass?"

Master smirked. "Better than that, we might actually be learning how to kick ninja-ass, ninja-style! And if we're lucky, we might even get a little backup."

"Ikou ze, I'm all FIRED UP!"

**A/N**: In case you haven't figured it out, the flashbacks are actually retold from the viewpoint of a narrative from Jiraiya's newest book, 'The Three Musket-Sannin!'

So, turns out that Master Makarov has actually met our dear Sannin in a previous life (approximately thirty years ago to be precise). Surprised? I wonder what other surprises lie in store for both sets of our favourite heroes? Things are going to start getting interesting, so tune in next chapter to find out!

As always, reviews and constructive criticism most appreciated! :)

_Kyojin no Gekirin- Giant Wrath_

_Katon: __Karyū Endan__- Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet_

_Draegon Dacrimae- Dragon Lacrima_

And if you haven't figured it out...Jibaiya, Prunade and Opochimalu are Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru with names changed to protect their "privacy"


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